If I got Joe-D's job tomorrow.. (how can it be so easy!?)

Step 1: Replace Lawrence Frank with the Spurs' Mike Budenholzer. Gregg Popovich is the best coach in the NBA, bar-none; and he has been for almost two decades now. In the 2012/2013 NBA GM Survey (GM Survey: LeBron and Heat the faves, but look out for L.A. | NBA.com) he more or less swept all of the head coaching categories - best head coach in the NBA, best manager/motivator, best in-game adjustments, second best offensive schemes (behind George Karl), second best defensive schemes (behind Tom Thibodeau). The second best head coach in the league, according to this survey, was Doc-freaking-Rivers. I'm not even sure I'd take him over Frank. It's a terrible era of NBA coaches. It's time to think outside the box a little. Budenholzer - who was voted as the second best assistant coach in the NBA (slightly edged out by Brian Shaw, for some reason?) - has been with Poppovich for a long time now. It's incredible luck that no one's given him a head coaching shot. I'd like to see us take advantage of that. It's not that Frank's a bad coach...it's just that he's not a good one (too long a topic to get too into). Have Budenholzer steal as many assistant coaches and player personnel people as he can from San Antonio.

Step 2: Amnesty Charlie Villanueva. It's astonishing to me that this hasn't happened yet. If we're ever going to win another NBA championship, it's going to be with great team defense and great player development. In addition to being grossly overpaid, Charlie V is perhaps the single worst defensive player in professional basketball, and a terrible influence - in every sense of the word - on our young players.

Step 3: Don't win another game this season. I want that #1 pick.

Step 4: Trade Greg Monroe for a top 3 to 5 pick. Monroe's a borderline top-20 player in the league, he's 22 years old, and he's a great citizen. It's going to be almost impossible to get equal value back for him in a player for player trade. I'd prefer, instead, to swap him for a high pick. I love Greg, he just doesn't fit in (again, too long of a topic to get too into here).

Step 5: Trade Brandon Knight and whatever else it takes to get a high enough pick in the draft to select Trey Burke. Seriously, everything's on the table (except for Drummond) - - - our 2nd round pick, a future 1st round pick (not next season's though - explation later), Prince, Stuckey, Singler, Jerebko, Daye, Maxiel, Bynum, Maggette, English, Middleton, Kravtsov. Between all of that, it's gotta be possible. There are things I like about Knight too, but all-in-all, no (again, too long of a topic to get too into here).

Step 6: Draft. Hopefully, we'll have the #1 pick (our own), a top 3 to 5 pick (Monroe), and another mid 1st-round pick (Knight and friends). I'm going with McLemore, Muhammad, and - like I said - Burke. The new core: C: Drummond, PF: ???, SF: Muhammad, SG: McLemore, PG: Burke. I like, a lot.

Step 7: Off-Season. If still on the roster, I'd get whatever I could for Stuckey and Prince - preferably picks, maintain salary-cap space (again, too long to get too into). If still on the roster, I'd let all of our free agents-to-be go - Daye, Maxiel, Bynum, Maggette (again, too long to get too into). If still on the roster, I guess I'd let English, Middleton and Kravtsov collect pay-checks for another season (who cares). Singler and Jerebko are, really, the only non-core members I'd even care to keep. To fill out the rest of the roster, I'd bring in a group of leadership veterans on one-season contracts.

Step 8: 2013/2014 Season. Tank. Start Drummond and the rookies all season. Develop them. Bring in Kravtsov and co. in for 4th quarters in case they start to get too good. Shot at the #1 overall pick, again. I like Jabari Parker.

Step 9: 2014/2015 Season. Now we're in business. Core of C: Drummond(21), PF: Parker(19), SF: Muhammad(20), SG: McLemore(20), PG: Burke(21) and a TON of cap-space.



...is it really THAT simple!?

I mostly agree with a lot of things you post BA, but I have to disagree with you on this one. No, it's not that easy.

#1) First of all, Buldozer is an unknown IMO. Just because he's been a long time assistant of a great coach doesn't make him one. We've been burned by a career-assistant coach before. Besides, having him steal as many assistant coaches as possible from San Antonio is not as easy as it sounds. SAS is a very well-run organization. True, they are due for a massive overhaul in a couple of years and many people will move places. But it is not plausible to teleport the entire SAS coaching staff over here.

#2) No comments on this one.

#3) This isn't in the hands of the GM. Coaches want to win. Players want to win. I never agree that "let's mail it in for a year or two and then we'll kick butt" mentality is a good way to develop players. Once that mindset gets into the heads of these impressionable youngsters, they'll immediately relapse back into that lazy swing when the going gets tough. You want your players to go hard and try to win every single game, never taking a play off, and then let the chips fall where they may. Besides, tanking never guarantees you the #1 pick (unless you're owned by the same people who pull lottery balls out of a transparent bag behind closed doors).

#4) While I'm not opposed to trading Moose, it is very risky to trade an established, successful big man for a lottery pick which may or may not become a bust. We may get much more value for him if we did a S&T deal when he's due for his first big contract.

#5) From what I've been hearing, you may not need to trade Knight to be able to get Burke. But this one is less of a gamble, and I agree with you on this.

#6-9) You are proposing an entire starting lineup of draft picks. Assuming that group holds together, they'll need 2-3 seasons to gel & mature and at that point they'll all be up for their big contracts around the same time, and you end up either having to gut the team you just built, go over the lux-tax land or opt for having no bench.

If you want to know what a starting lineup built 100% from the draft looks like, watch our current team. This year's Pistons have 15 players on the roster. 11 of those we have drafted (73%!!!). Slava was a FA, but we are the 1st NBA team to sign him, so essentially it is equivalent to us drafting him. That leaves only Maggette, CV and Bynum. Bynum was undrafted, and prior to Pistons he only played 15 games for GSW. So, we might as well have drafted him, which means 87% of the players currently on our roster haven't played anywhere else. My point is that if you go by the way of the draft to build your core, you'll end up with the 2012-13 Pistons.

#1) I like his odd's more than Frank's. Being half-serious about the assistants.

#3) Play hard for three quarters. Put in bums for the fourth. Boss's order. It's worth it in the end - and there's no reward for 2nd (or 8th) place.

#4) S&T? Might be able to get someone better in a normal trade, but not in a sign and trade.

#6-9) I pick B - go over the lux tax.

**Monroe is the highest pick on the roster at #7 overall. I'm suggesting a team that'd have Drummond, Burke and three players picked higher than Monroe. I like imagining that team.

Drummond is basically a #2 pick if the draft were redone and there isn't a huge market value gap between him and Davis. We are experiencing what it is like to have won the lottery right now. It doesn't solve all problems, but it gives you a big man foundation to build the rest of your team the right way.

Why? Right now you can trade Monroe for a player that's making less than Maxiell. If you do a sign and trade, you can get a player that's making what Monroe would be making under the new deal. Unless you're trading Monroe for another top performing rookie, a normal trade won't get you comparable value back.

So essentially, you would completely destroy the teams financial base in order for some high drafts picks? Which, in reality, don't always rarely lead to championships.

#1) I'm just going to put this out there. There may be a reason he is not a head coach yet. But feel free to carry on your parade.
#3) I have said this many times - tanking is lame. You lose your fans, you lose money. Its a bad business decision.
#4) Yeah, lets trade a top 10 big man for a complete unknown in the draft. Are you out of your mind? We know what Monroe's value is. He worked out for us. Why would we try and play smash and grab for the next Darko? How ridiculous. You trade Moose for known value.
#7) You make the assumption that these supposed vets, are just going to play for you under 1 year contracts. Put down the crack pipe.
#9) Yeah we are totally in business now. I reckon that team of 20 years olds will go 81-1. Or you know, be the next Charlotte Bobcats.

Shabazz, Burke etc are great basketball players. But these guys don't hold a candle next to most NBA players.

Any two of those sounds like a good plan.
I would keep tanking off the table though.
I just feel that doing too many of those things is...
dangerous crazy overkill Mr. hyde like impossible probably going overboard.

#1. Stand pat.
#2. If Memphis is willing to do a Rudy Gay for Tay+filler, DONE!
#3. If we actually get a draft pick this year, target the following: McClemore (unlikely), Muhammed (unlikely), or one of the 3 PG's - Burke, Carter-Williams or Smart.
#4. Amnesty BoT.
#5. Cut Stuckey and save an extra $4.0M
#6. Sign OJ Mayo\

My ideal situation is one where we narrowly miss the playoffs, obtain a lottery pick, draft a PG and sign OJ Mayo. We may be able to use our $18M in cap space to obtain Zac Randolph (or Rudy Gay) this summer in a salary dump, the same way Utah obtained Al Jefferson. If we get rid of BoT and Stuckey we'd still have about $12M is cap space to play with.

Enter Maggette. Big salary to balance out a deal like that. Expiring contract, so no long-term negative impact.

Easy.

1) I will continue to think that there are better coaches out there than Frank
3) What have the Pistons been doing for the last three or so seasons?
4) Trading someone who doesn't fit for someone who could. Gotta be able to trust your scouting eyes.
7) There are good role-model veterans in the league who are willing to take on that roll in exchange for a pay-check.
9) Team of 20 year olds with a ton of talent and potential to grow. Who were the Thunder three years ago?

Whether we like to admit it or not this team is headed in the right direction. You add a 18ppg scorer into this starting lineup and VOILA! We're on our way. If we make the playoffs, we lose this years draft pick, but if we make the playoffs, we kind of don't need a draft pick. If we make the playoffs we can attract good free agents, but there are only 3 available that I'd really look at this summer: Mayo, Smith, Millsap; and I surely wouldn't overpay for any of them. There's no need to blow the team apart, even though we can't stand Stuckey and BoT, Moose frustrates us, Knight has an awful handle, Tay is well....Tay, and Max is well....Max. With all of that said, we're actually in the playoff hunt. We only need to tweak this team in order to get to the next level.

A team of rookies and 2nd year players will not work. You need to have a couple of "old" guys around to show the young guys how to be professionals. The key is to have the right "old" guys.

You don't post often, but when you do, you are usually right on!

So here's what you've decided to do:
1) Fire the coach and bring in an assistant with no head coaching experience (worked for the Lions with Marty Morninwheg and Rod Marinelli, if I remember correctly). You know nothing about what type of system he would run, but he worked with a guy that was good, so he must be better thank Frank.
2) You amnesty BoT, who - while not a great defensive player - has offensive skills that much of the rest of the team lacks. The team still has to pay him, and you're not using the cap room
3) You convince your guys to start losing games so that you can get a 1-in-4 chance at getting the #1 overall. Great way to make the coach and the players happy.
4) You trade one of the best players on the team for a draft pick in hopes that you can get someone at his skill level, but neglect to mention who would want him there.
5) You trade our young point guard with potential for a younger, shorter point guard with potential. Good call.
6) If you managed to get these guys, good for you. Seems like a sideways move to me, but I'm skeptical.
7) Stuckey and Prince are overpaid and the rest of the league knows it. Dumars had to give up a 1st just to get rid of Gordon, who's better than both of them - you think anyone's going to give anything in return for either of these two guys?
8) Now that you've gutted your entire team, how are you supposed to lure in free agents? Detroit is not a destination, and you've just shown them that you're tanking for a year or two. Nobody's going to come here unless you overpay them or are set up to win a championship in the next year or two. You won't have a bench and will be relying on players that are new to the league, a coach that is new to the position, and a fan base that sees the losses piling up.
9) The odds of you ending up with two straight number one picks - even if you end up the worst team in the league - is exactly 1/16 (or about 6.25%). Good luck with that.
10) Other than that, it looks good.

On track to what? Being a perennial 2nd, 3rd or 4th place team? No thanks.

And there would be cap space to have them in the picture I painted.

1) Couldn't be much worse, IMO.
2) A) His offensive skills are FAR outweighed by his defensive shortcomings. B) I'd rather pay him to not be here than to be here - terrible influence on our young players. C) The cap space could be used on much needed veterans.
3) On a team full of 19 year olds, it might not even be necessary.
4) The list of teams who wouldn't want Monroe is much, much shorter.
5) I like Burke more than Knight. Disagree if you'd like.
6) It isn't.
7) Could've gotten the Mavs' 1st for Prince last season. There will always be desperate / stupid teams at the deadline. That being said, it's not CRITICAL to get rid of either.
8) I'm not talking about superstars, I'm talking about mediocre veterans dude..
9) Top 4 is fine.

I think you're being a bit ridiculous / biased here. Let's remember that we're all friends and try to be objective.

1) I agree. I just don't think an assistant coach is an even odds gamble. Seems like a long shot to me. At least we have a quantifiable commodity at the moment.
3) We haven't been tanking. We have had consistently bad starts, and then gotten significantly better over the season.
4) Moose is actually fine, its our back court that needs work. We need spacing.
7) They won't come to Detroit for bottom dollar 1 year contracts. Ever.
9) A 20 win team. But you are making the assumption that your NBA scouting technique of occassionally watching a college or HS game on TV is more effective than what they are doing. Ethereal talents like KD and LBJ don't come around every year. Shabazz could be the next x, or he could be a total plank. Trey Burke could be the next Chris Paul, or the next Earl Watson.

He is the one being objective.